Serb nationalists protest against Mladic arrest

Police set to tackle extremists in Belgrade as former general waits for extradition to the Hague on war crimes charges

Former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic was arrested in a modest farmhouse an hour's drive from Belgrade
Photograph:
Politika/AFP

Serbs loyal to the captured ex-Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic are preparing
to protest in Belgrade against his arrest and extradition.

Serbian police are increasing security around state buildings and embassies in
anticipation of an escalation of extremist behaviour.

A similar protest took place in 2008 when the former Bosnian Serb leader
Radovan Karadzic was arrested for war crimes - but the ultra-nationalistic
Serbian Radical Party has insisted that the protest will be peaceful.

Mladic, who is believed to be in poor health also issued a statement through
his lawyer calling for his supporters to remain calm.

He was arrested in the early hours of Thursday morning in a small farmhouse on
the outskirts of a village an hour's drive from Belgrade, where he was
living with a cousin. Sources inside the investigation into Mladic's
location suggest that security officials sympathetic to the ex-general
helped him to evade detection during the